Article display and dispensing structure



May 27, 1958 c. L. BESSE ARTICLE DISPLAY AND DISPENSING STRUCTURE %0 044 0000... o o o o o Filed Aug. 18, 1954 M.

United States Patent ARTICLE DISPLAY AND DISPENSHIG STRUCTURE Carlyle L. Besse, Memphis, Tenn., assignor to Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Application August 18, 1954, Serial No. 450,696

2 Claims. (Cl. 222-457) This invention relates to article displaying and dispensing structures suitable for use in stores.

Briefly, the present invention comprises an upright tubular housing adapted to be filled with articles of mechandise and provided with a passageway through which articles may flow outwardly by gravity into a suitable trough-shape base for display and dispensing purposes.

Heretofore, in displaying and dispensing articles in super markets, articles have been placed in wire baskets of conventional super-market carts, along with relatively small display cards or panels bearing advertising data relating to the quality, etc. of the articles. It will be apparent that the number of articles which may be displayed on such carts is related to the size of the basket. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a display and dispensing container adapted to materially increase the number of articles which may be loaded onto a super-market cart to thus conserve space and reduce the frequency of replenishment of the articles onto the cart.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of an article display and dispensing structure in which the upright article housing is adapted to be mounted in one end of a conventional cart basket to deliver articles by gravity into the other end of the basket.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of an article display and dispensing structure adapted to be disposed on a floor, table, or the like, and comprising an upright housing to feed articles by gravity into a suitable trough-shape base from which the articles may be removed by customers. The enclosure may be formed integral with the housing or as a separate individual part to receive the housing.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a housing having front, rear and side walls adapted to be printed with advertising data relating to the articles being dispensed therefrom into the display enclosure.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a display and dispensing housing adapted to be inexpensively constructed from sheet fiberboard for shipping and storage in a fiat condition and to be readily expanded to set-up condition to be filled with articles at the point of use.

The invention embodies other novel features, details of construction and arrangement of parts which are hereinafter set forth in the specification and claims and illus trated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a top plan View illustrating an article display and dispensing structure embodying features of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of same.

Fig. 3 is a front elevational View of the housing.

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing a blank of sheet material, such as fiberboard, as scored transversely to form hingedly connected panels adapted to be arranged to form the housing.

Fig. 5 is an end elevational view showing the blank of Fig. 4 as folded for shipping and storage.

Fig. 6 illustrates a modified form of the invention in which the housing is provided with a trough-shape base to receive articles flowing thereinto by gravity from the housing.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understanding of the invention and more particularly to Figs. 1 to 5 therein, the article display and dispensing structure is shown as comprising a housing 6 preferably formed from a blank 7 of sheet material such as cardboard, fiberboard or the like.

As illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 in the drawing, the blank 7 is scored transversely along longitudinally spaced parallel lines 8, 9, 1i and 11 to provide a back wall 12, side walls 13 and 14, a front wall 16, and an attachment flap 17, the score lines serving to hingedly connect the walls and flap for folding to the collapsed condition illustrated in Fig. 5.

One end of the front wall 15 is formed with an arcuate recess 18 which preferably extends the full width of the front wall and serves as an outlet passageway 19 for articles contained in the housing. As illustrated in Fig. l, the walls l2, 13, 14 and 16 are adapted to be arranged and secured in set-up condition by staples 2ft, adhesive, or the like to define a tubular structure adapted to be supported in an upright state upon a suitable base, such as a wire basket 22 of a conventional super-market cart 23.

The front and side walls of the housing 6 may be of substantially equal width, while the back wall 12 is of greater width than the front wall 16, whereby the side walls 13 and M converge from the back wail toward the front wall 16 and are in substantially parallel alignment with adjacent side walls of the basket 22. The housing e is thus snugly engaged between the side and back walls of the basket, and the front wall 16 is spaced from the front wall of the basket to form a chamber 25.

To display and dispense small articles of merchandise, such as, for example, relatively small sample boxes of Kelloggs cereals, the blank 7 is mounted in the basket 22 with the back and side walls 12, 13 and 14: snugly engaging the back and side walls of the basket, as shown in Fig. 1; after which the flap 17 may be secured to the back wall 12 by staples 21 and/ or adhesive.

After the housing 6 has thus been snugly and firmly positioned in the basket, the chamber 2% and housing are filled with the articles to be displayed and dispensed. During removal of articles from the chamber 26, other articles pass by gravity downwardly through the housing and outwardly through the passageway 19 into the chamber. By providing a housing which extends, for example, 36 inches above the top of the basket 22, it will be apparent that the combined housing and basket structure is adapted to hold a larger supply of articles than were heretofore packed within the basket per se, thus conserving space and reducing the frequency of refilling the basket. It will also be apparent that the relatively large outer wall surfaces of the housing are adapted to bear written or printed data indicating to the public the type, qualit price, etc. of the articles being displayed and dispensed.

To display and dispense articles in stores which do not have grocery carts for use by customers, the housing 6 may be mounted in a trough-shape base 27, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The base is preferably formed from a blank of sheet material, such as cardboard, fiberboard, or the like, cut and scored to provide a bottom 28 having side walls 29-29 and end walls 31-31 hingedly connected thereto, the walls being secured together in setup condition by any suitable means conventional to the paperboard box industry. In this form of the invention the front wall 16 or the housing is'spaced from the adjacent end wall 31 of the base to define therewith a chamber 32 from which articles m ay be removed by customers.

While this invention has been shown in but two forms,

it is obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited but issusceptible of various changes andmodia fications without departing'from the spirit. and scope of the claimed invention.

I claim as my invention: a '1. In anarticle displaying and dispensing structure, a trough-shape base having side and end-walls and a bot.- tom,-'a separate tubular open-end housing endwise dis posed within'said base and mounted on and projecting V upwardly from said bottom between said side walls, ad-

jacent one end wall and spaced from the :remote ,end wall to define a chamber at one endof the base to receive articles from said housing, said housing having an openremovable with respect to the trough- 2. In an article displaying and dispensing structure an upwardly open base, receptacle having a bOtt0II1,'2. rear end wall, a relatively narrower front end wall and -a pair of side walls inclined to each other between said end walls, and a separate collapsible tubular paperboard open-end housing having a rear wall, a relatively narrower: front 'wall and a pair of side walls inclined to each other between saidendwalls; said housing being endwise removably telescoped within said base and snugly engaged between sits-inclined side walls and rearqwall and projecting thereabove, the front walls of said com ponents being spaced and the lower end of the front 'wall of said paperboard housing being formed with a recess defining a passageway through'whicharticles may pass by gravity from the interior of said tubular housing laterally into said base receptacle.

Referen'c es Cited in thefile of this'patent 1' UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,125,884 Praker Jan. 19, 1915 1,150,317 Timmons Aug. 17, 1915 2,582,207

Shaw Jan} 8, 1952 

